


What the Rumours Say

by lingering_l0v3z



Series: If the board was a city [1]
Category: The Queen's Gambit (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mob, Banter, F/M, New York City, Organized Crime, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 07:54:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28467858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lingering_l0v3z/pseuds/lingering_l0v3z
Summary: It took a beat to realize that while all the writings had referred to her as a “him,” they were clearly mistaken.
Relationships: Beth Harmon/Benny Watts
Series: If the board was a city [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2097531
Comments: 8
Kudos: 82





	What the Rumours Say

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all! First time I am ever posting here since I couldn't help myself after seeing this couple and reading everyone's amazing stories. With that said, I am no means an expert in chess or organized crime syndicates so sorry if there are any errors with the references.

She took me by surprise. 

Prodigy. Tyrant. Boss. Kingpin. Or E Harmon. Everyone called her Harmon. My name preference would be Biggest-pain-in-my-ass or Reason-I-am-losing-millions-of-dollars.

Ever since I took over my family’s less than reputable “business” over 10 years ago, I invested millions into the New York drug and gambling scene importing and distributing everything from heroin to simple tranquilizers. I filled the many family-owned casinos with them and encouraged the high rollers to continue to pile into the betting parlours through their various addiction. Millions outgoing over the years were reciprocated by billions incoming with little upkeep needed on my end. 

I was the youngest boss to take over since my father had been forced into the slammer early on in his career. I had been born and bred to take over this position and quite frankly, I excelled in it. 

New York was a bustling city above ground and the traffic was even more tumultuous underground. Some people looked at running an empire as complicated as conquering in chess, and they would be correct to compare it to the 64 square kingdom. 

Lucky for me, I found that making the 16 pieces advance on the invading shades therapeutic. Making the enemy’s king bow towards mine made me giddy inside. I had the same feeling when my family took over most of the drug traffic coursing through the city

That was until Harmon came into the scene nearly three years ago. Three years. A child compared to myself when it came to running a lucrative business and yet the very mention of the name struck fear into the hearts of my associates. 

And the name coated me in frustration. Frustration that the pieces of my kingdom were being cornered and captured. 

Harmon was someone I had dismissed in the beginning. After all, a few crime bosses had involuntarily retired over the decade I was in power leaving their heirs to take control, and yet no one had been able to touch my title or lessen my control over the city. 

Then I heard the rumours. Harmon was also a prodigy, stepping into power only several years older than myself when I first took over the Watts family. She was a kid from the suburbs of Kentucky and a transplant to New York. 

Due to the untimely death of her estranged mother, her grandfather had taken her under his wing and inevitably taught her how to maneuver around the complex board that was the New York crime scene. 

I would be willing to bet that this was the very life that her mother had been wanting to take her away from, taking her chances raising her bastard daughter alone rather than in the bloody and affluent world of the Harmon family. 

It didn’t surprise me that the old crow still got his way. He needed an heir to the kingdom he built, and his only daughter had already provided that. It wouldn’t surprise me if he had his own daughter killed. I wouldn’t put it past Shaibel to stage a car crash to ensure his future reign.

Regardless, it was a darn shame that the old boss had kicked the bucket years ago. The man had the meanest poker face. I had a handful of in-person interactions with the man in the past and he was never far from a chessboard. 

While many bosses preferred to do their pleasant chats over a poker game or in noisy bars with half-naked dancers on their laps, Shaibel was classy. He preferred a chess game with a single glass of whiskey. 

We had played numerous games together over the years. It might even be possible to say that the old man had enjoyed them since there was always fire and some anger seething in his normally passive face each time I would take his king. 

After one of those discussions nearly five years back, Shaibel had given me a ghost of a smile and muttered, “Astounding. The way you command your pieces on and off the board reminds me of Harmon. The child barely lets me get away with a win these days.”

That was the first time I had heard her name and the moment I stepped out of the office, I forgot it. In hindsight, I should have taken his words as an omen because Harmon would start her game with a hell of a gambit. 

The moment the Harmon family seat opened, Harmon stepped up and devastated her enemies. In the three years since she took over, she took nearly a third of my profits by somehow cutting out the middlemen and purchasing straight from suppliers in various continents. Not only did it make Harmon more money but also filled the pockets of the suppliers by obliterating a large fraction of their employees. 

While several of the suppliers remained loyal, it angered me that I was outsmarted by someone so new to the scene. Never have I been beaten in this way. High rollers tended to flock to casinos with the best drugs and alcohol allowing Harmon to continuously eat away at the profits my casinos brought in. 

What angered me more was the tiny ounce of respect that the prodigy began to earn from myself, albeit begrudgingly. It was risky business to not only declare an all-out war on the Watts family but to do the same to the three others who controlled New York was a death wish. 

There were five families in this sprawling city and while discussion through violence was our preferred method of communication, Harmon had mostly managed to avoid bloodshed with well-placed deals. 

I use deals in the loosest way possible. Harmon attacked with a ferocity from the very beginning but laid her plans out so well that she was always three steps ahead of the next boss. Deals were made between Harmon and the three other families; however, it was fair to say that they were more resignations than draws. 

Townes, Beltik and even the twins Matt and Mike had their egos handed to them when Harmon took over the most lucrative parts of their businesses early on. Just as she had found that I mostly dealt with drugged up gamblers, she sunk her hands into the cash cows of the others whether it be bootlegging, weapons, or even call girl services. 

Taking one piece from each of their businesses ensured that their very existences relied on Harmon having a good day. 

Out of all the families, mine was the only one who had yet to tip my king to her. This didn’t surprise me since I had run circles around many of the bosses long before Harmon was even out of her Kentucky high school. Call me self assured or downright narcissistic, but I called it confidence. Confidence that had been gained from years of winning at this game we called life. 

These three years have been a battle of wits and sometimes a literal battle where the knife I always kept glued to my hip came very handy when trying to evade blows with whatever hitman Harmon had thrown at me. The latter happened rarely, and I could tell it was due to building frustration. 

Each time she would try to usurp my power, I would thwart her by already moving on to the latest street drug or forcefully taking over one of her many casinos from the hacks who managed them. It pissed her off, I knew. 

There was also some sick side of me that enjoyed it when she would lash out by sending someone to use my head as a bullseye target. To say that I didn’t do the same when she would push back by some other underhanded scheme would be one of the biggest lies ever told. Several of my best men had come back in body bags due to my equally mounting frustration at her evasiveness. 

After months of shuffling pieces on the board and always coming to a draw, I decided rather brashly to nip this whole situation in the bud. I was losing money and so was she. So instead of waiting until Harmon extended one of her infamous deals, I took the first step instead. After all, if a deal is to be done before both our businesses suffered more, it was best done under my control and so a message was delivered. 

I insisted on having a meeting in-person, no underlings as a substitute which she was often known for. If I were to make a deal with the devil, I might as well look at their ugly image. Harmon insisted it be in Cincinnati in the Gibson Hotel, on neutral ground she commented.

That day, I chose to position myself on one of the two chairs overlooking the stairs of the grandiose hotel. Figured it would be easier to spot Harmon at their entrance. There was just a single problem with the situation. I had no inkling of who I was looking for and the longer I sat there, the more I realized why Harmon had kept her identity such a secret. 

Like everything else, it was just another mind game. A way to gain the upper hand even before she moved her first piece. It must be satisfying for her but unfortunately not for me. 

Just as her grandfather had kept her identity under wraps while Harmon was in his tutelage, Harmon avoided all cameras, worked out deals through consiglieres and killed anyone who got close enough to see her face. 

And that was sometimes the most frustrating part of the whole situation. I was fighting a ghost, playing chess on the New York board with a faceless king. As if I wasn’t challenging enough of an opponent to grace with her presence. 

It was an embarrassment to think about how many sleepless nights I spent plotting against her and how many days I spent evading her latest scheme to corner me. Before I realized it, the prodigy from Kentucky took up real estate in my mind and made herself comfortable. Or more likely she burrowed herself under my skin and set up shop like a bed bug. 

It was because of this very slight obsession that I consumed many articles, papers and rumours about the unknown boss. Still, nothing could have prepared me for the meeting.

As I mentioned before, she had surprised me. Regardless of all the names used to refer to the Harmon family boss, female and scarily attractive were never on the list. It took a beat to realize that while all the writings had referred to her as a “him,” they were clearly mistaken. 

However, female or not, I was more interested in the mind that laid beyond. I had never spent much time trying to make out E Harmon’s image. There was no use in contemplating something so irrelevant especially when her actions were what I was more interested in. 

Thinking about it now, it would have been fruitless to have spent seconds on the topic. Her perfect image was not something I could have ever conjured. 

The moment she climbed the stairs of the hotel I noticed her naturally red hair styled into a wavy bob. She parted the crowd that had been listening to the speech I had been giving about the Caro-Kann Defence, a chess opening that surely none of these people knew anything about. In a moment, all eyes turned to her and rightfully so. 

While I wouldn’t bet money on myself being the most stylish man, I dressed to make an impression with my signature black hat and duster. Numerous rings decorated my fingers at any given day and several necklaces dangled from my neck, but even I felt overshadowed by her. 

The woman was a marvel. Clad in a black and white checkered coat she stood tall on classic pearl-white heels. My image projected a rough personality while hers exude sophistication and elegance. 

My eyes trailed from her legs over her gloved hands clutching at a white purse and to the sunglasses covering her eyes. It would be easy to mistake her for an innocent, rich heiress but the moment she slid the shades from her face, I knew otherwise. 

Hazel eyes accentuated with dark eyeliner gazed back at me. I felt my face scrunch in interest since those eyes held more knowledge than I was used to seeing on such a young face and regardless of never seeing them before, something felt familiar about those calculating orbs. 

“Mr Watts,” she said with a smooth voice that garnered all attention from those around her. She walked closer to my still sitting form, her two guards framing her. 

It didn’t take me long to come to grips with who she was. So, this was the lady who had wiped out Harry Beltik. It wouldn’t have been hard for her to send an underling to broker our deal, but there was no mistaking or disguising the intelligence and ferocity that shone in her eyes. 

My lips twisted into a smirk which she returned with a small lift of her red painted lips. My eyes dropped down to them and I contemplated just how I had missed them during my initial once over. 

I stood and extended a hand to her. “Miss Harmon.”

**Author's Note:**

> Possibly more to come for this series, but will see how I feel in the New Year! :D


End file.
